The Lancaster Barnstormers scored in each of the first three innings and held on to defeat the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 5-3 Saturday night at Regency Furniture Stadium. Lancaster has now won nine straight games and is within a half game of first place while Southern Maryland now is three games back.
Chris Schwinden (13-3) was two outs shy of a complete game yielding two earned runs on four hits in 8.1 innings. Ian Marshall (9-9) was on the losing end for the Blue Crabs allowing all five runs in 6.2 innings. Shunsuke Watanabe got the final two outs in the game for his first save of the season.
Cole Garner got the Barnstormers on the board with two outs in the 1st inning with his league-leading 24th home run of the season, a solo shot. Lancaster went on to add a pair of runs in the 2nd inning on RBI singles by Gabe Jacobo and Olmo Rosario. Brett Carroll added a solo home run in the top of the 3rd inning to increase the lead to 4-0.
Southern Maryland got an unearned run in the bottom of the 3rd but Lancaster got it back in the top of the 7th when Greg Golson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 5-1.
The Blue Crabs rallied in the 9th with two runs. C.J. Ziegler drew a bases loaded walk and Angel Chavez brought in Jake Opitz with a sacrifice fly. Jamar Walton grounded out to end the game with the tying run at first base.
The Blue Crabs finish their three-game series against the Lancaster Barnstormers tomorrow afternoon at 2:05 PM. Purchase tickets for the game by visiting www.somdbluecrabs.com or calling 301-638-9788.